The Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine in January-July 2019 allocated UAH 64.12 million to compensate interest on loans for agricultural producers.
According to the press service of the ministry, farmers for the seven months attracted loans in the amount of UAH 3.8 billion. The largest amounts of compensation were received by manufacturers in Vinnytsia (UAH 6.17 million), Cherkasy (UAH 5.95 million), Kyiv (UAH 5.43 million), Poltava (UAH 4.5 million) and Khmelnytsky (UAH 4.29 million) regions.
As reported, the 2019 budget under state programs for agribusinesses foresees UAH 800 million for support to farmers, UAH 244.5 million in loans to farms, UAH 127.2 million for cheapening loans for farmers, UAH 400 million in support for hop growing, gardens, vineyards, and berry production. Some UAH 3.5 billion is provided for the program to support animal farming, storage and processing of agricultural products, as well as fish farming in 2019.
The program of financial support for agricultural producers (subsidies for the purchase of agricultural machinery, equipment, wagons) foresees about UAH 881.8 million.
Ukraine’s Agricultural Policy and Food Ministry predicts that corn harvest in Ukraine would increase by 19.4% in 2018 compared with 2017, to 29.5 million tonnes.
“We expect the corn harvest this year to be about 29.5 million tonnes, while the export of the crop this agricultural year [2018/2019 agri-year, July-June] will amount to 22 million tonnes,” First Deputy Minister of Agricultural Policy and Food Maksym Martyniuk said at a press conference on Tuesday.
The ministry estimates that the wheat harvest in 2018 may decrease by 7.6%, to 24.2 million tonnes, barley by 13%, to 7.2 million tonnes, rye – by 15%, to 0.38 million tonnes, buckwheat – by 25%, to 0.14 million tonnes, soybean – by 2.6%, to 3.8 million tonnes, and sugar beet – by 10.7%, to 13.3 million tonnes.
The harvest of sunflower can grow by 9.8%, to 13.4 million tonnes, and rapeseed – by 18.2%, to 2.6 million tonnes.
The areas planted with crops for the 2019 harvest will be 8.09 million hectares, in particular 6.2 million hectares with winter wheat, 0.89 million hectares with winter rape, and 0.87 million with winter barley.
